Franklin Real Estate Agent Sentenced to 8 Years for 2022 Rape

Franklin real estate agent Eduardo Gonzalez Aguirre was sentenced to eight years in state prison on Friday following his October conviction for raping a woman 2022.

Aguirre will serve all of that sentence, as well as be placed on the violent sex offender registry and will be under community supervision for life.

Williamson County Circuit Judge David Veile agreed with the prosecution that two enhancement factors were relevant in determining the sentence. Those specific factors were that the victim, who the Williamson Scene is not identifying, was “particularly vulnerable” due to her level of intoxication, and that Aguirre had “abused public or private trust or position of power” as the victim was his business client.

The hours-long hearing saw around 50 people attend in support of Aguirre, four of whom testified about his character, including his wife, his brother, a neighbor and a real estate industry colleague. Some 80 letters of support were also submitted to the court.

Those four testifying supporters all said that they did not believe that Aguirre had actually raped the victim, with his wife saying that she didn’t believe he was “capable of hurting anyone.”

Aguirre’s wife, a Franklin teacher who also testified during the trial, pushed back against the notion that the victim was in fact victimized, while several supporters of Aguirre audibly scoffed and shook their heads at statements made by the prosecution that the victim had and was continuing to experience emotional trauma.

“I've been stalking her as any woman would on Facebook, and [the victim] to me, as an educator, doesn't seem like she's carrying a burden,” Aguirre’s wife testified.

When Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Dungan asked Aguirre’s brother if they had ever discussed the incident, his brother replied, “I asked him once when I found out [about the investigation], but he didn't really give me a concrete answer.”

Several of Aguirre's supporters said that they weren't even aware of his charges until after he was convicted, citing the publishing of a story on the trial. Only his parents attended the entirety of the nearly week-long trial last year and were familiar with all of the evidence presented in court. While Aguirre's wife did testify and attend portions of the trial, she could not be present for all of the evidence that was submitted.

Around 10 people attended in support of the victim, most of which were her immediate family members. Only one of those supporters, the victim’s daughter, who also testified during the trial, spoke during the sentencing hearing, contrasting her mother’s personality before and after the assault.

“Before the defendant raped her, she was very energetic, very full of life,” her daughter said. “In the days and weeks after the defendant raped her, she was really, really dull. She had no life in her eyes. They took it away from her.”

The victim stood silently beside Dungan who read aloud a written victim impact statement to the court.

“He was living the American dream that I wanted my kids to live. I don't understand why that admiration and trust had to be betrayed in such a brutal way. After he had raped me several times, I can no longer see myself as that once very strong woman that [I] was,” the victim impact statement reads in part.

“What frightens me the most, is that he will come back and seek revenge on my beloved kids that I love so dearly,” the statement continues. “Sometimes all I want to do is grab my children and move to another house where he will not know where I live. But being a single mom, working my butt off to provide for my kids, where I live from paycheck to paycheck, I cannot do that.”

Aguirre appeared in court wearing an orange Williamson County Jail jumpsuit. He had remained silent throughout last year’s trial, having only uttered “not guilty” aloud at the start of the trial.

His voice was also heard throughout the trial in a voicemail he made to the victim’s boss on the day of the assault, a voicemail where he lied about having taken the victim to Williamson Medical Center because he said, “She's not feeling well.”

On Friday, Aguirre stood at a podium and issued a statement to the court, in which he spoke of his family and children, and declared himself a changed man through the help of alcoholics anonymous and a renewed faith in Jesus Christ.

“I am well aware that my actions hurt people, and I am terribly sorry,” Aguirre said in part. “We're nearing three years now, I’ve lived in pain, sorrow, embarrassment, shame.”

Aguirre’s defense attorney Josh Brand argued that his client deserved an alternative sentence, such as probation. The prosecution was seeking a nine-year prison sentence and took issue with Aguirre’s statement, arguing that he never truly accepted responsibility, directly apologized or said the name of the victim out loud in court.

At one point, Brand acknowledged Aguirre’s large group of supporters who were seated throughout the courtroom’s gallery, including filling in several rows of bench seats behind the victim. He then asked them to stand to show their support and the crowd momentarily dwarfed the victim and her family who sat in the front row.

Dungan also took issue with that display, saying, “They stood up and revictimized her again.”

Dungan told the Williamson Scene that she feels gratitude for the detectives, the jury and the judicial system as a whole for their work and for what she said was an “appropriate sentence” handed down by the judge, adding, “I think that justice was served.”

Brand declined to issue a statement following the sentencing hearing, but did say that he is planning to appeal the sentencing ruling.

In January, Brand submitted a motion to vacate the conviction and seek a new trial, arguing that Aguirre had not been afforded due process. Brand made the argument in part due to an email exchange he had with a juror following the verdict, and filed the motion because, he argued, that the jury was not given clear instructions and considered two different instances of sexual interaction for one count, the count that Aguirre was ultimately found guilty.

That motion was denied on Feb. 12, two days before Aguirre was sentenced, due to it not being timely filed.

“This is not a denial on the merits, and the Defendant is not precluded from raising this issue in a motion for new trial filed within thirty (30) days of the date the order of sentence is entered,” the ruling reads in part.

While Aguirre had no criminal record prior to his 2023 indictment, it was revealed on the first day of his trial that he has long been a “person of interest” in a 2011 missing person-turned-homicide case, something that was kept from the jury.

Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Special Agent In Charge Nathan Neese was not allowed to testify during the trial that Aguirre had previously lied to law enforcement after providing two differing statements on the disappearance of then 18-year-old Nieko Lisi. Neese told the Williamson Scene that Aguirre “has always been somebody that's been involved [in the Lisi investigation] from the beginning.”

This story has been updated.